Creation Justice

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it….(Psalm 24.1, NRSV)

As United Methodists, we are committed to caring for the wholeness and health of God’s creation, affirming the inherent goodness of the world God has made. All people are called to live in healthy, compassionate, and just relationships with God, with our neighbors, and with the earth.

The Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life’s breath into their nostrils. The human came to life. (Genesis 2.7, CEB)

Our relationship with the earth is based in our creation out of it. Our relationship with God is based in our breathing the very breath of the One who made us. Our relationship with other people, animals, plants, and all creatures is based in our creation out of the same “stuff.”

All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy, resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect. (The United Methodist Book of Discipline—2016, para. 160, “The Natural World”)

Earth Day Celebrations on Saturday, May 18

9 AM – Noon Clean-up at The UMC of Berea

10 AM – Plant Sale at the UMW Garage Sale

The Creation Justice Team will be sponsoring a clean-up at The UMC of Berea from 9 am to Noon. We hope to be outdoors but if weather prohibits, we will work inside.

The Creation Justice Team is also hosting a plant sale on Saturday, May 18 during the UMW garage sale. We need your help. Our plant sale will consist of plant clippings from indoor plants and divisions of perennials of our, and hopefully your, indoor and outdoor plants.

If you can participate, please:

place the plants in paper or recyclable containers (e.g., cottage cheese tub)
label them
price them
bring them to the Creation Justice Table of the garage sale on May 18 at 10 am in Wesley Hall.

Proceeds from the plant sale will go to Brookdale Orchard, an inner-city orchard that is sponsored, in part, by St. Matthew UMC. (Several of us from UMCB visited the Orchard last summer. Learn more at brookdaleorchard.org.)

We hope to see you at the Garage Sale on May 18!

Recycle your Cassette Tapes – Deposit Them in the TerraCycle Recycling Bin in The Gathering Place

Do you have any Cassette tapes you no longer use (or want) but hesitate to add them to the trash? If so, please place them in the TerraCycle recycling bin located in The Gathering Place (near the piano). TerraCycle is able to recycle hard-to-recycle items such as cassette tapes because they work with brands and retailers who fund the recycling process for specific items.

Questions? Please contact Cindy McCowen at clmccowen@aol.com or 440-234-3985.

Thank you for your recycling efforts!

Careful use of God’s resources – energy usage reduction

As you may know, the United Methodist Church encourages us and our communities to work to reduce greenhouse emissions through our thoughtful reduction in use of energy and/or use of renewable energy sources. Reduction of emissions will have the biggest positive impact on reducing the earth’s temperature. The warming of the planet causes more harm to those who are least responsible for creating emissions, for example, families who live next to a power plant or farmers in California. (United Methodist Church Social Principles 2016, umc.org/en/content/social-principles-the-natural-world)

In the Great Lakes region, the temperature has increased by over 2 degrees Fahrenheit and is affecting the ecosystems of the lakes. Scientific models show that the number of days with high temperatures eg. greater than 90 degrees Fahrenheit in our region are expected to increase. (Dr. Donald Wuebbles speaking on “Climate Change and the Great Lakes” FaCT lecture 2/10/24)

United Women in Faith, through their Just Energy 4 All at uwfaith.org/what-we-do/serve-and-advocate/just-energy-4-all/) initiative, is concerned about energy consumption and its effect on creation too. Their website provides resources such as ways to advocate for systemic change, a fun quiz about energy and a link to the US Energy Information Administration (eia.gov/). On the EIA site, you can see what types of energy sources are used in Ohio or other states and information about those energy sources. It was cool and encouraging to see how many companies, like Whirlpool, in Ohio use wind turbines or solar power!

As we have all experienced, the cost of most things have gone up over the last couple of years. If we can find ways to save money and be stewards of God’s creation, why wouldn’t we? There are resources to help fund solar panels for homes and if you are not able to install solar panels you can easily choose a supplier that uses some or all clean energy sources. For example, I have an electric supplier uses 100% renewable sources to generate the electricity. I also chose the carbon neutral contract through my natural gas supplier. Resources for choosing your energy supplier can be found at NOPEC at nopec.org/residents or PUCO at energychoice.ohio.gov/. NOPEC is an energy supplier that buys energy in bulk (aggregates) for residents of their member communities. Hint: when looking for natural gas rates, either through NOPEC or PUCO, they are usually lower in the summer.

Other resources you can explore are the following. Solar United Neighbors at www.solarunitedneighbors.org/co-ops/ohio/cuyahoga-late-2023-solar-and-storage-co-op/ (a group that works with/for residents to have the right to install solar and reduce the cost of installing it through a co-op model and offer educational sessions and resources on their website) and US Solar Energy Credit at energy.gov/eere/solar/homeowners-guide-federal-tax-credit-solar-photovoltaics If you were ever interested in solar, now is good time to explore this option. Solar United Neighbors co-op for Cuyahoga County is accepting members and the federal residential solar energy credit is a tax credit gives participants are eligible for a 30% tax credit.

If you are interested in other activities or information, visit umcreationjustice.org or reach out to the Church Office at 440-234-3525 x100 or info@umcb.org.

God’s season of spring allows new births of animals and birds and brings forth buds on trees and tulips that awaken from their slumber. Jesus was resurrected by God that reminds us of how much He loves all of His children.

Learn about things you can do to be a caretaker of God’s creation. Everyone can do something, even something small. Sign up for the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement’s Creation Justice Tips e-newsletter.

Here’s a recap of the activities and organizations from our Creation Justice Fair in April 2022.

Creation Justice Fair

April 23, 2022

United Methodist Church of Berea

170 Seminary Street, Berea, Ohio

11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Mission Statement

To live our Christian values by articulating Creation Justice and identifying environmental damage and social injustices, as we work to make changes in our lives and culture that will address these problems.

Goals:

Host a Creation Justice Fair at UMCB on April 23, 2022 where speakers and table hosts will share information and propose actions for addressing injustices.
Participants will learn how impacts of Climate Change create intolerable conditions for impoverished people that force them to leave their homelands.
Learn about the “Linear Materials Economic Model” (the Story of Stuff) from extraction to disposal and actions to take to help resolve the injustices created by this model.

Activities

Rain Barrel Workshop

Two rain barrel workshops were offered. Jared Bartley, CFM, Deputy Director – Education & Watersheds for Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District led the workshops.

The barrels were 60 gallon drums and approximately 3’x5’. The workshop lasted approximately one hour. Jared led a discussion for the first 20 minutes followed by participants adding the hardware to their barrels. All equipment was provided. The activity was an outdoor event. Participants needed to preregister and prepay.

Children’s Station

The Children’s station included a book walk “When Jesus Laughs” by Latricia Edwards Scriven, PhD. The book celebrates God’s Creation. We used the walk and other activities to teach children about “Keeping Jesus Laughing” by learning the principles of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Plant Sale

The United Methodist Women lead the plant sale. The plants were cuttings from their houseplants and spring shoots from perennials in their gardens. The plant sale was open with the Fair at 11 AM and continued until all the plants were sold. All proceeds went to the United Methodist Women Missions.

Speakers

All presentations will be in Fellowship Hall.

Noon

Meiring Borcherds, Watershed Team Leader, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD)

Mr. Borcherds will discuss the work that the NEORSD is doing in the community from treating wastewater more sustainably and cost effectively to how the NEORSD is improving our rivers and streams so we can make the Great Lakes Great Again.

Mr. Borcherds is currently one of three Watershed Team Leaders at NEORSD and works on programs related to stormwater management, flooding, erosion and water quality. He has over 20 years experience in land use management and stormwater working towards land and water conservation and preservation programs on three different continents. He has worked on several stormwater, stream & wetland restoration projects and always incorporated education programs into his work. Recently he has turned his focus to the Rocky River and Cuyahoga River focusing on the complex issues surrounding these watersheds and its land uses.

1:00 PM

Liv Randall, Development Specialist, US Together

Liv will share US Together’s ‘Refugee 101’ program that covers a variety of topics related to refugee resettlement in Cleveland. We will discuss US Together’s background as an agency, various immigration statuses, the process of how refugees come to the United States, where Cleveland refugees are from, an overview of various crises Cleveland refugees have fled from (Afghanistan, DRC, Myanmar, Ukraine), the resettlement process, and how to get involved in local refugee resettlement. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A, so feel free to bring any questions you may have!

Liv recently graduated from The Ohio State University where she studied International Relations and Middle East Studies with a minor in Arabic. After graduation, Liv was hired to be an Americorps VISTA for a year at US Together in Cleveland. In July 2021 Liv was hired as a full-time employee of US Together, as a Development Specialist of all three offices with a focus on Cleveland. Her main roles include developing our interpreter services department, building community partnerships and fundraising.

2:00 PM

Leah Finegold, Program Coordinator, City Fresh

Leah will speak about the City Fresh program and the importance of eating local.

Leah Finegold is the Program Coordinator for City Fresh. Leah is originally from Jacksonville, Florida and settled in Cleveland after completing her degree in Environmental Studies at Oberlin College. She is passionate about food justice, fostering community relationships, and broadening access to local food. You can find Leah experimenting with new recipes, reading a good book, or outdoors with her dog Squash.

3:00 PM

Pearl Chen, Fellow, InterReligious Task Force on Central America
and Colombia

Pearl will be discussing what she learned when she went to Honduras and how forces of oppression in the Global South are similar, if not the same, as those in the United States. Specifically, she will be discussing the environmental degradation and the dispossession of land from the people of Honduras for the sake of extractive projects by transnational projects based in the US and Canada. She will discuss how these injustices are analogous to those experienced by people in the United States, specifically people on the frontlines of pipeline resistance as well as people living in areas being gentrified. She will also discuss what sort of resistance is being made by activists and organizers, both in Honduras and locally.

Pearl (she/her/hers) is a community organizer with the InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Columbia (IRTF Cleveland), a Central American human rights nonprofit, which she joined in November 2020. Through IRTF, she leads an international solidarity effort with the Honduras Solidarity Network to free the 8 political prisoners of Guapinol, and traveled to Honduras in August 2021 to learn from directly impacted communities about the root causes of mass migration. She is also organizing for climate and housing justice in Cleveland. She is a hub coordinator for Sunrise Movement Cleveland, a youth-led climate justice organization; a lead organizer for Utilities for All, a local advocacy group focused on utility justice, and recently co-founded the Greater Cleveland Housing Justice Coalition.

Organization Tables

Stop by each table to interact with them and learn what their organization offers to help us identify actions we can take to address some of the environmental damage and social injustices.

Brookdale Orchard:

feeding the mind, body, & soul!

Established in 2016 as an inter-generational Bridging Connections program youth garden, Brookdale Orchard is an urban agricultural enterprise of the Rockefeller Park Community Restoration and Development Association (RPCRDA) —a resident-established and controlled non-profit corporation, and St. Matthew United Methodist Church—a 61-year partner in community support and programming in our Cleveland Hough neighborhood bordered by Superior and Wade Park Avenues, and East 79^th Street to Rockefeller Park.

Citizen Climate Lobby

Citizen’s Climate Lobby is a nonpartisan, volunteer-driven organization, advocating for federal climate action with a focus on carbon pricing as the single most effective step we can take. We will have information about CCL, with an opportunity for people to sign up to volunteer with us, and an opportunity to take action in the moment by contacting Congress from our table.

City Fresh

City Fresh is a non-profit Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program working to create and promote a more healthy, vibrant and just local food system. City Fresh sells affordably priced share boxes of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables throughout Northeast Ohio.

Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District

Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District is a local government agency that works to protect and restore Cuyahoga County’s natural resources through education, technical assistance, partnership and project implementation. Our work is focused on the areas of storm-water pollution prevention, watershed management, urban agriculture, soil health and backyard conservation. Projects and programs range from native plant sales, presentations to community organizations and rain barrel workshops to construction site inspections, stream restoration projects and volunteer tree planting events – and countless activities in between.

Ecologist Katie Flinn

(Available 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM)

Katie Flinn is an ecologist and Associate Professor of Biology at Baldwin Wallace University who will share her research on the natural heritage of northeast Ohio. Her work addresses questions like, What were our region’s forests like prior to European settlement, and how have they changed? What can tree rings tell us about how forests are shifting due to human impacts like disease-causing invasive species? She is happy to try to entertain other questions about local forests, trees, and what ecologists do.

Energy

Stop by this table and learn about carbon calculators and water calculators as well as how to determine your energy supplier on your utility bills and how to find renewable energy sources. This table was hosted by members of The UMCB.

InterReligious TaskForce on Central America and Colombia (IRTF)

IRTF calls together people to walk in solidarity with the oppressed to achieve peace, justice, human rights and systemic transformation through nonviolence. We work to change US policies, corporate actions and consumer behaviors that undermine justice both here and abroad.

The Association of Mam Christian Women for Development (Guatemala)

As its name indicates, the Association helps women develop in many ways, including developing their families’ and their own health through protecting the Earth. Guatemala is in Central America, just south of Mexico. The women live in the mountainous western portion of the country. They have undertaken two projects to protect the earth. First, wood is their primary cooking fuel. They have adopted the use of a stove that uses a fraction of the wood that conventional stoves need. Moreover, the design reduces eye irritation, burns, and smoke inhalation. Thus the use of the stove offers a double benefit: helping the Earth and maintaining the health of the woman and her family due to fewer injuries. Second, to offset their use of wood, the women have a reforestation program. Trees are sometimes referenced as the lungs of the Earth. This is because they turn carbon-dioxide into pure, clean oxygen. Their two efforts, although small, contribute to cleaner air for all of us. The women know God created the Earth and their duty, as well as ours, is to protect it.

Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) is a public utility district serving most of Cuyahoga County and a part of Summit and Lorain Counties. Their stormwater management program will continue to build projects to maintain streams and water quality monitoring. They will have information on these programs including how citizens can mitigate their stormwater fees with rain gardens, rain barrels, and other projects.

Rocky River Watershed Council

Rocky River Watershed Council is a citizen-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving the aquatic quality of the Rocky River and its tributaries. Its purpose is to protect, restore and perpetuate a healthy watershed through public education, watershed planning, communication and cooperation among stakeholders.

Ohio Invasive Plant Council and National Wildlife Federation

A member of the Ohio Invasive Plant Council and National Wildlife Federation will provide suggestions for gardening for wildlife in your yard and pesky plants to avoid and why.

Rust Belt Riders

Rust Belt Riders is a worker-owned cooperative that offers clean, simple, and affordable composting services for residential and commercial organizations through curbside pick-up, residential drop-off sites, and commercial services. RBR is exploring opening neighborhood drop-off sites in Berea! Come to learn more and sign up.

Sustainable Berea

The mission of Sustainable Berea is to engage the community of Berea and neighbors in healthy environmental and sustainable practices by education, outreach, and local partnerships. The table will focus on topics related to sustainability including composting, solar and recycling.

United Methodist Church

Global Missions Secretary of the East Ohio Conference will have information on covenants with missionaries and global health. Members from various congregations will host this table. A new local initiative ‘Sew for the Earth’ will be highlighted.

The United Methodist Church of Berea

Members will be sharing how they approached recent building projects from an energy efficiency perspective as well as ongoing projects to increase energy efficiency especially in terms of lighting.

United Methodist Women

Members will highlight the UMW Mission: FAITH HOPE LOVE IN ACTION. UMW calls for sound stewardship of the earth and environmentally friendly lifestyles that preserve creation for the benefit of present and future generations.

US Together

We will have content regarding US Together programming, as well as information on ‘Refugee 101’ topics. We are available to answer any questions you may have about refugee resettlement, Cleveland refugees, how to get involved and more!

Interactive Mural

The mural will be in the Gathering Place.

Our Interactive Mural is based on ‘The Story of Stuff’ by Annie Leonard. You can view the video on the Story of Stuff.org. For those that cannot view the video before the Fair, we will be show the short (23 min.) video during the Fair with permission from Story of Stuff.org Creative Commercial License. The mural breaks out the five segments of the Linear Economic Materials Model – Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal. You are invited to share your reactions and thoughts from the story on the mural as well. Some specific questions you may want to respond to include: